My First Big Project

My husband moved into our current apartment in April of 2010 and I suppose that's when my quest began. When he first moved in we had a bed, a microwave some Navy friends had given us before moving, and my tv from college and a entertainment stand from a family at our Church. Our next addition was a beautiful solid wood bookcase that I found at the thrift store. I was so excited about putting our apartment together but wanted to be mindful of our budget so I searched for deals and decided that this was not the furniture we were going to have forever so it didn't have to fit my taste. Our next purchase was a bedroom set from craigslist. I got a headboard, rails, two side tables, a tall dresser, and a long dresser with a mirror for $200.00 all solid wood. It wasn't my taste but I was excited to have a dresser, Joel had been using one form my parents guest room.

  We already had rails so we gave those to someone in our church. Our apartment was slowly beginning to come together, we also acquired a couch from some friends at Church (we have a great Church family), the week of the wedding we got our dinning room table and china hutch- again only $200, beautiful solid wood, and it came from my Aunt and Uncle which made it even more special to us! Well the wedding came and went, and of course all of our family from out of town wanted to see our place. So the day after the wedding they helped us bring all of our gifts home and saw our new place.  When I showed them the bedroom I told them that while I wasn't thrilled with the style I loved having dressers. My sister in-law told me that I could refinish it and make it my own- I told her that would have to wait until we moved closer to them so she could help!  I was nervous to try anything on my own, so months passed, and then I decided that I was going to do it. Since I was nervous, I decided maybe my first sanding and refinishing job should be small. I bought a roll top desk off craigslist and that's what started it all. After conquering the desk I was ready to start our bedroom. It took some time, and I recruited the help of my husband with the moving and some of the sanding. I chose a black satin stain for our bedroom and love how it came out! Once the sanding, staining, and sealing was done it was time for new hardware! I went to countless stores, and spent hours online looking at hardware until I finally narrowed it down to two choices. Joel helped me pick, I was so thrilled when they finally came in! Our staining makeover, and new hardware ran us $110, making our furniture $310. Since I didn't use all of our bedroom budget it got rolled over to my housewares! If you are considering embarking on a DIY project, go for it! You never know what your capable of until you try!